Amos, you taste like candy.

[SS]: I’m blushing, but I’m writing it down, anyway. “You taste like crushed ice.”

He’s laughing at me now.

I’ll take it.

[SS]: “So what’re we covering next?”

Korac leans forward and caresses my jaw with his thumb. He looks so sad while he’s doing it.

Now the dream ends, and the nightmare begins.

Nox and Xelan fought over the direction of the colonization. It seemed we couldn’t raise a fence without upsetting my Prince. It bordered on obsessive, and Nox tried to breach the gap with innovations and services that Xelan dismissed without offering alternatives.

Unfortunately, most of these altercations took place on the top floor of the fortress. What did you think of the space, amos?

[SS]: “The observatory’s beautiful. Rosewood shelves. Heavy, glossy furniture. I love that the far wall and ceiling are seamless glass. It looks especially beautiful at night. And I couldn’t help but notice…”

Yes?

[SS]: “The color of the carpets…”

Yes. I intentionally commissioned that dye for them. I wanted them to match Xelan’s eyes. Obviously, I’d hoped he’d toil away there under my idle supervision.

I wonder now if the reason Nox insisted on designing his offices in the tunnels below was for that reason. To give his brother the space he demanded while keeping him close. There’s no way to ask him.

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Either way, Xelan converted the observatory into his home.

[SS]: Korac stands suddenly and returns to his pacing. He seems agitated over this memory. Like he’s avoiding an inevitable end.

How astute of you.

For two years we built our colony. Ementa was gracious enough to share design and material ideas. Nox, Xelan, and I planned luxuries and defenses together. Colita corralled the human population admirably. We fed from them as the only Vittle substitute available. Only willing participants.

Not one died under our care in those two years.

But you already know from Nox’s Verse that we lost Icari to the sun. Xelan detested the current prototype for the Sphere. Technically, the machinery worked, but it remained inert until it received enough power.

Do you remember what powered the Sphere? Of course, you do.

Blood. A constant supply of it or enough from the start to never require refilling. Xelan estimated one million bodies, and when Nox agreed to it, my Prince revolted. It was the same when Nox created the Cruor Villam to execute capital criminals.

After that fight, it took three months for Xelan to come down from the observatory and breathe the same air as Nox.

As for my King, he continued his self-imposed independence. I never once saw an Icarus—male or female—visit him. Nor did I ever see him gaze at one for longer than necessary. But he looked… pained. More so since we settled on Earth. After Bin visited our fortress, I felt the metaphorical waters recede from the quake and climb higher in the distance. Waiting to wipe us out.

Thailea.

[SS]: “What happened there?”

Nothing. We stepped through the conduit with one million men. A white light enveloped us instantly, and everyone but me fell to the snow-covered ground. I lost sight of my King during Inanis, and when I found him, he held a chunk of nacre ore, unconscious.

I caught no trace of Razor there. No smell or footprints in the snow. Just a whistle.

[SS]: Razor once said he worked toward the creation of the Progeny. This must be an example of that architecture.

When we returned… I’d never seen Xelan so angry. We were covered in yellow blood, but none of us remembered how. I wasn’t in the observatory for the fight that pushed him into the stronghold. But after reading Nox’s account of it, I could see the obvious patterns.

At the time, I simply had to endure the fact that Xelan didn’t bother to tell me goodbye before he disappeared for six months.

[SS]: I’m wincing.

Tell me about it.